1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a voltage level shifting circuit which receives input signals at low voltage levels and generates output signals at higher voltage levels.
2. Background Art
In integrated circuit technology, voltage levels of one magnitude are employed for use with one type of electrical components on a chip while higher voltage levels are required for other types of circuit applications. Voltage level shifting circuits are used in such applications to shift voltage signals from lower levels to higher levels. Typical prior art references describing various embodiments of voltage level shifting technology are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,464 issued Sep. 24, 1996 to Orii et al. entitled SIGNAL VOLTAGE LEVEL CONVERSION CIRCUIT AND OUTPUT BUFFER CIRCUIT.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,915 issued Mar. 21 1995 to Yahata. entitled DRIVE CIRCUIT INCLUDING TWO LEVEL-SHIFT CIRCUITS.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,943 issued Jan. 3, 1995 to Dennard entitled LOW POWER INTERFACE CIRCUIT.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,701 issued May 5, 1987 to Stotts entitled VOLTAGE LEVEL SHIFTER.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,636 issued Nov. 5 1985 to Andrews et al. entitled WIDE BANDWIDTH SIGNAL COUPLING CIRCUIT HAVING A VARIABLE VOLTAGE-LEVEL SHIFT FROM INPUT TO OUTPUT.